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Fareed Zakaria GPS “Xi Jinping: The Governance of China” Robert Lawrence Kuhn October 5, 2014 FZ: What in the world is the leader of the second largest economy on the planet thinking? That’s a question many would love to know the answer to, but in a closed, secretive society, like China, it’s all but impossible to know. He rarely gives interviews, and the press in China is far from free. But now we have something to look at. Chinese President Xi Jinping has a new book, entitled The Governance of China, and it’s aiming for worldwide impact. State media there reports that the book has been published in nine languages: Chinese, English, French, Russian, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Japanese. My next guest, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, says it is a milestone. Kuhn has advised the Chinese government for twenty-five years, and is the author of How China’s Leaders Think. Welcome. KUHN: Pleasure to be here. WHAT IN THE WORLD IS XI JINPING THINKING? FZ: First, give us a sense of who this man is for cars © : eet § our viewers. Who is Xi Jinping, and why is hea little different from China’s ordinary leaders? KUHN: Xi Jinping has been involved in all aspects of what makes China today. His father was one of the founders of the country, truly a great revolutionary and a great reformer in the early days. Xi Jinping graduated from Tsinghua University [‘China’s MIT’], with a degree in chemical engineering. Then he went through 4 more than two decades working at the local level. WHAT IN THE WORLD IS XI JINPING THINKING? Cr Starting in a county, and then a city, Xiamen, : = working his way up for many years in Fujian ae “ , Ss province, becoming the governor. Then for five years Xi was the Party Secretary of, the number one official responsible for, Zhejiang province, which is the center of entrepreneurship in China. So that gives him a great sense of business. And that was when | first met Xi Jinping, actually, in 2005, and then again in 2006, seeing him doing the real work of running a province, a local area. a | President Xi is a person, when you see him, who is unassuming; he’s big, he has a strong presence WHAT IN THE WORLD IS X! JINPING THINKING? Cee | in aroom, but you feel very comfortable with = rer him. He doesn’t put on airs, he’s very warm and HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_023695